Exploration

We have been exploring the narrow, quiet roads on walks from the house, and today, we did the 20 minute drive to Cape Perpetua for some hiking and whale watching.  Most of the things we do hinge around mother nature's weather agenda.  Spring weather here seems to be, shall we say, interesting?
Yesterday, Gail and I were standing in the living room when Gail spotted a river otter loping along the bank of the river then plunging in. As I looked up, we both saw a second one do the same.

 On this day, we walked about 8 miles on country lanes and Forest Service roads.  It's fun to see other people's property and animals.

Three days later, we hiked the other direction, and discovered a neighbor down the road raises peacocks, and their neighbor has llamas.  The boggy areas are dotted with yellow skunk cabbage flowers now.

 I was weeding around our goldfish pond and saw this frog, which I'm quite sure is an Oregon Spotted Frog. These frogs are rapidly disappearing from their former range, and are now being protected in some areas. From what I could find out, this frog is a little out of its known range.

 Yummy D is doing a little exploration of her own!

Penelope on watch from the kitchen window.

 This was last Tuesday...

 and this was Friday morning.

Night and morning brought a mix of snow, hail, sleet, and rain.

 Yesterday, we explored around the property, which really is a rain forest.  This rotting stump had all kinds of different plants, fungi, moss, and lichens growing on it.

 The same stump.

 These little heart shaped plants have popped up in the past week.  So much to learn!

 We have a maze of trails, and sometimes still get a little lost.

 This is what 80 plus inches of rain a year will do!

 We're looking forward to the mushroom festival in October to learn more about identification, and culinary uses.

I'm just starting to get a handle on identifying the local trees. So far I know we have red alder, bigleaf maple, western redcedar, western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and Douglas fir.  Underneath many of the trees is salmonberry.

Water we have!

 This morning, we hiked the 804 foot climb to the old shelter up on Cape Perpetua.

The view is stupendous! Gail spotted two whale spouts down below.

This bald eagle circled overhead.

 We then hiked down and over to the visitor center. On the way, we passed a few of these flowers that we soon learned were western trillium.  They are considered an herb that spreads by underground rhizomes.

In the comfort of the visitor center, we watched a couple of grey whales hanging out.  This is not much of a picture, but they were probably a half mile away.  So much new to do and see!  So much to do around the house and yard!  We are definitely keeping busy!

First Visitors!

My sister-in-law and her fiance Brian came down to visit us last Sunday. They were our first visitors and mother nature decided to wow us all with a sunny day that was in the 70's.

Lorie and Gail watching the river run out by the swimming hole.

Brian enjoying the T-shirt weather.

The following pictures were randomly taken over the last week or so:

 We have spotted elk from our kitchen window twice now.  They cross a clearing just on the other side of the river.

 Looking out across the front yard.

 On the swimming hole table is this rain forest "Chia Pet".

The waterfall, which is a side creek that spills into the river.

Another yard view.

 Our granddaddy Sitka Spruce.

Looking up into its limbs.

We have some resident frogs in our goldfish pond.

Unfortunately, I think they are young bullfrogs.

I have seen two alligator lizards under our pump house. This one lost its tail to something.

Down by the big spruce is this low waterfall that I think might be a good place to watch the salmon in the fall.

I've had the trail cams out on the property, and so far have captured a brush rabbit and three black-tailed deer.  Hoping to get a bear, bobcat, or cougar one of these days!

Moving to Yachats, Oregon

We did it - made the move to Yachats, Oregon last week! The work and anxiety of preparing for a move while trying to sell our home in Carlsbad was hectic, but seems to be working out just fine.  The following phone snapshots tell a bit of the story.

Starting in late December, we started boxing everything up. Gail's collections of art and dishes required immense effort on her part.

We drove all the way to Redding the first day - 633 miles. The following morning we hit snow after about 20 minutes of driving and had to put on chains right before Dunsmuir.  A few minutes later, I had a flat tire, but luckily could still pull into town and find the only tire shop.   

I was out of my element in this stuff!  Gail was driving her car with P-girl, and I was in mine with Yummy D.

We made it to the house the second night and slept on the floor.

The next morning, we drove from our house down Yachats River Rd.  to meet our movers in Waldport where we had reserved storage units for some of our stuff.  I saw two groups of elk about a mile from our house.

 Our 3 movers were nice guys, but not the most careful packers! Everything shifted on this truck and we had some damage to my table saw and Gail's bird sculpture.

At our new house, Victor practices his tagging on the back of the truck while Jemain (sp. ?) looks on.  I had to saw off a few tree limbs to clear the way for the two trucks.

 Our backyard!

 We find ourselves staring at this Big Leaf Maple throughout the day.  It is so rain forest with ferns growing out of the moss high up in the branches.

 It pretty much rained all the time from Thursday through Saturday, but we enjoyed a nice hike and look around the property.

So many options for meditation!

Sunday, we headed up to Newport for a big stock up of supplies at the Freddy Meyer. A couple miles from our house we stopped at this sign marking a forage area for elk.

 Yesterday and today were beautiful!  It was mostly sunny and in the high 50's.

 Our front yard with Gail's art studio in the back.  The greenhouse really works - it is like a sauna in there!

 We are just starting to get to the point where it feels like things are coming together.

 My bird sculpture is overseeing the garden area.

 Curiosity fried the mouse!  This mouse was dried to a crisp in Gail's studio, apparently getting electrocuted in an uncovered outlet.

Looking from the house down to the river and cabana this morning.  We are waiting for the eagle to perch in the maple overhanging the river.

I'm doing spa water analysis while the cats are getting their first acclimation to the outside.

Yummy and Penelope can't wait to check things out, but we have to go slow before letting them roam a little.

Well, that's all we have for the first few days - pretty random shots.  I can't wait til we're settled in and I can fire up the tractor!